These are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13 raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. Jude 12–13

If you want to know how the Secret Service trains its agents to spot counterfeit money, you might assume they spend hours studying fakes. But that’s not the case. They spend most of their time studying the real thing. The more you know genuine currency, the easier it is to spot a counterfeit.

That’s precisely what Jude does. He knew the real thing, Jesus, the gospel, the grace of God. And because he knew the real, he could recognize a counterfeit a mile away. In these verses, he provides us with five marks of spiritual counterfeits, warning us not to be deceived by those who appear to be genuine but lack the life of Christ within.

Jude says false teachers are “spots in your love feasts.” The word means hidden reefs, rocks just below the water’s surface that can tear open a ship. The Titanic was massive, yet it sank due to an iceberg that was mostly hidden beneath the waterline. Similarly, counterfeits may also be found within churches or Christian institutions. They don’t always look dangerous at first, but in time they cause shipwreck to faith and fellowship.

Apostates are “clouds without water, carried about by the winds.” They promise refreshment but bring nothing. Imagine a farmer watching the skies, hearing thunder, seeing lightning, waiting for rain, and the clouds pass by. That’s what happens when people hear sermons that sound impressive but have no gospel in them. All words, no living water. They block the Son but never bring His life.

Jude calls them “autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots.” An apostate can mimic fruit, but never bear it. They may look alive, but they are spiritually rootless. And rootless trees never last. Jesus said every plant not planted by His Father will be uprooted. The difference between the genuine and the counterfeit is simple: faith that produces fruit. A life in Christ always leads to transformation.

Jude describes them as “raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame.” Have you ever walked on a beach after a storm? What was once beautiful and clear becomes littered with seaweed, trash, and filth stirred up from the depths. That’s what happens when you look closely at the life of a counterfeit. The turmoil of their heart eventually washes ashore. They may hide it for a while, but when truth confronts them, shame comes spilling out.

Finally, Jude says they are “wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” A true star follows its God-ordained path, but a shooting star breaks orbit, shines briefly, and burns out. Apostates are the same. They may shine for a moment, but because they refuse the orbit of Christ, their brilliance never lasts.

The difference is striking:

There are many counterfeits in the world. But there is one thing Satan cannot counterfeit: Jesus. He can counterfeit sermons, pulpits, even churches, but he cannot counterfeit the Son of God. He is the true Light, the real Bread, the living Water, the solid Rock. When we know Him, we’ll recognize a counterfeit every time.

So the question is not, “Can you spot the fakes?” The deeper question is, “Do you know the real thing?”